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By Helen Williams |
The annual Maniototo Garden trail is a feature of the summer holidays in Central Otago.
This year the gardens featured in the tour included the town of Ranfurly inland from Dunedin (1 ½ hours from Dunedin and 40 minutes from Alexandra, Central Otago) and the adjoining Wedderburn area. The proceeds of the garden trail go towards local beautification projects.
These gardens enjoy one of the toughest climates in New Zealand, the altitude of around 425 metres (1400 feet) above sea level and the continental climate make for challenging gardening. Extremes of cold, frosts and snow in the winter followed by heat, drought and drying winds of summer have to be taken into account - tender, delicate plants simply do not survive here where hoar frosts are not uncommon in winter and weeks of rainless 30 C degree days are not unkown. | |
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Large rural gardens with sweeping vistas |
Paeonies thrive in the cool winters | |
| The gardens visited were immaculate despite the previous 10 days of heat of 30 C degrees ( F) and blustery nor' westerly winds which saw the fire risk raised to extreme - the highest for many years. The gardens ranged from small town gardens to large rural gardens with sweeping vistas. Almost all had extensive vegetable gardens some of which were raised bed style, no-dig and no-bending gardens. |
Dry stone walls add structure
Elegant curves on a schist stream bed |
Silver birch trees and dry schist rock walls added a sense of structure. One garden included a stone walled creek, although it was dry at the time of our visit. In another of the small town gardens the garden edging was an effective easy care feature. These edges of "turned earth" were an alternative to the sun dried bricks the gardener had used in her previous large rural garden.
Roses thrive in this climate and those that caught the eye included 'Sally Holmes', 'Golden Wings', 'Fritz Nobis' and 'Graham Thomas'. Hostas were also evident in many gardens on the shady side and an advantage for this climate is that there are NO snails! So, if you are in Central Otago next summer, make sure you catch the Maniototo Garden Trail.
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